N.S.W. RAILWAY SMASH.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 159, 7 July 1926, Page 7

N.S.W. RAILWAY SMASH.

I ANOTHER PASSENGER DIES. ■ FIVE PEOPLE IN ALL. I i ______ (Received 11.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, this day. Mrs. Annie Lucy McDonald, of Ashfield, succumbed to injuries received in the Aberdeen railway smash, bringing the total number of deaths up to live. (A. and X.Z.) TRAIN SMASH INQUIRY. SYDXEY, July 6. The Railway Commissioners have apI pointed a departmental board for t!ie purpose of making a searching inquiry into the Aberdeen railway accident.— (A. and N.Z.) The permissible safety speed for trains at the spot where the Brisbane express was wrecked near Aberdeen, on June 10 was fixed by experts at 50 miles an hour, when the coroner resumed the inquest into the deaths of the four passengers. Members of the train crew said the train at the time of the smash, was travelling at not more than 3-j miles an hour. Examiners who inspected the train just prior to the smash, said the gear and brakes were all in first-class order. William Evans, subinspector of bridges, told counsel that lie last examined the Aberdeen viaduct four months ago. He looked for white ants, but found none. A portion of the pile exhibited in Court lie considered sound. AYhite ants had been ill years ago, but were not in it now. He would not admit that it had been riddled with white ants. The fact that white ants had been in the pile would not cause such a condition as to bring about a collapse of the viaduct. The pile was put in the viaduct about 40 years ago. The pile would be just as strong as another pile with natural decay. The decay in the viaduct was not sufficient to warrant a renewal of any of the timbers. ( About three months ago he noticed places of dry rot in the viaduct, witness told Mr. Sayegh, but he did not report it because the decay was not sufficient to warrant a renewal of any of the timbers. He just kept an eye on it. Evans said that in this section he had about 150 viaducts, and knew the defects in the£ all where they existed. He claimed ! that the engine was derailed before reaching the bridge, which collapsed from the undue pressure. A steel bridge would probably have collnpsed under the same circumstances.